Monday 11 July 2011 03.57 EDT
First published on Monday 11 July 2011 03.57 EDT

So here it is, the end. After 168 years of bringing you the finest transfer tittle-tattle this great country of ours has to offer, the Rumour Mill is on its way out. This is not what it wanted, or deserved, but after its recent misdemeanours there were few other choices. Thank you and goodbye.

Just joking, of course. It would take more than claiming Connor Wickham was definitely on his way to Liverpool to drive the mill out of business. In fact, the only thing that could lead to such a demise would be a total drought of the rumours that juice our nation's engine and even the briefest of glances at today's newspapers prove we're a long way from that.

Continuing to dominate most back pages is Luka Modric and his increasingly desperate attempts to move to Chelsea from Tottenham. Having called Daniel Levy all sorts of names over the weekend after the Spurs chairman ruled out selling the Croatian, Modric is now apparently ready to hand in a transfer request in order to escape White Hart Lane.

Should Modric get his way, Tottenham fans could at least console themselves with the arrival of Scott Parker, who is finally on the verge of leaving West Ham. Spurs, as has been the case for months, are favourites to sign him but could face competition from Aston Villa, with the Midlands club apparently willing to spend £6m on the midfielder.

Along with Parker, Harry Redknapp also looks set to make a move for Christopher Samba, but faces the prospect of having to pay up to £12m for the Blackburn defender.

Arsène Wenger is also keen Samba, but less so on Nicklas Bendtner and Manuel Almunia, both of whom are expected to depart Arsenal shortly. The Bundesliga champions Borussia Dortmund are ready to spend £9m on Bendtner while Malaga and Atlético Madrid are keeping a beady eye on Almunia.

Back at Chelsea, meanwhile, it appears Alex may be heading to Bayern Munich for £8m after the club could not agree a fee with Manchester City for Jérôme Boateng. Also rumoured to be leaving Stamford Bridge is Nicolas Anelka, with cash-happy Paris Saint-Germain willing to re-sign the striker for £9m.

Not going anywhere is Darron Gibson. Twitter's finest was expected to move from Manchester United to Sunderland for £3m but the transfer has collapsed over the player's £40,000-a-week wage demands.

And speaking of occasional Old Trafford midfielders, Owen Hargreaves could make a return to the Premier League with West Bromwich Albion. The perennially-injured English/Canadian/German player has been without a club since being released by United at the end of last season, but having used YouTube to prove his knees are not totally knackered, now looks set to move to the Hawthorns on a pay-as-you-play deal.

And joining Hargreaves in the Black Country is Matthew Upson, with Wolves ready to rescue the defender from West Ham. Leicester are also on a salvation mission, willing as they are to offer Liverpool £1.5m for Paul Konchesky, a rather large amount given Kenny Dalglish would take a second-hand lawnmower and two bottles of Irn-Bru for the full-back.

And finally, Queens Park Rangers have been told they must pay Jimmy Bullard £45,000-a-week if they want to sign him from Hull. An extraordinary amount, but then these are extraordinary times.